This survey was conducted in April 2020 to understand how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting IT leaders' roles, priorities, and their outlook on the long-term effects on IT organizations and businesses overall. 414 IT executives responded, mostly from large US companies. The majority expect social and work restrictions to last over 10 weeks. CIOs are focusing more on cost control, ensuring business continuity, and enabling remote work. Digital transformation and improving the remote experience are top priorities for CEOs. Increasing operational efficiency remains the most significant driver of IT investments in 2020 according to respondents.
2. 2
42%
29%
6%
11%
11%
Purpose and Methodology
Source: CIO COVID-19 Impact Study, April 2020
This survey was conducted to understand how the current Coronavirus pandemic is
effecting IT leaders’ roles, priorities, and what they think the long-term effects will be
on their IT organization and on business as a whole.
SURVEY GOAL
AUDIENCE BASE
CIO audience via email invitation.
NUMBER OF
QUESTIONS 12
COLLECTION METHOD
Online questionnaire
414
Business
Mgmt
High Tech 23%
Financial Services 12%
Government/Nonprofit 11%
Manufacturing 11%
Services (legal, consulting, real estate) 10%
Healthcare 7%
Education 7%
Retail, Wholesale and Distribution 7%
JOB TITLESTOTAL RESPONDENTS
TOPREPRESENTEDINDUSTRIES
AVERAGE
COMPANY SIZE
13,602
EMPLOYEES
ExecIT
IT Pro
IT Mgmt
Other
REGION
91% U.S.
9% Non-U.S.
3. 3
Expected Length of Social & Work Restrictions
Q. Starting with March 13th when social distancing guidelines were widely announced in the United States, how many weeks in total do you expect social and work restrictions resulting
from the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic to remain in place?
Source: CIO COVID-19 Impact Study, April 2020
59%
expect work & social
restrictions to last for
more than 10 weeks
5%
16%
20%
30%
29%
4-6 weeks
6-8 weeks
8-10 weeks
10-12 weeks
More than 12 weeks
35% NORTHEAST U.S.
23% SOUTHERN U.S.
66% New York/New Jersey
49% Texas
4. 4
Focus Shift to Expense Control and
Shoring Up the Business
Q: Which of the following activities best characterize your focus and how you spend your time in your current role? AND Q: Which of the following activities do you
plan to spend more time on in the next 3 years? (+/- numbers under NOW show the difference from last year) Q. Looking out to the next 12 months, which of the
following activities do you anticipate spending more time on versus 3 months ago? Q. Looking out to the next 12 months, which of the following activities do you
anticipate spending more time on versus 3 months ago?
Sources: State of the CIO 2020, CIO COVID-19 Impact Survey, April 2020
Functional
State of the CIO
Sept. 2019
CV-19
Study
Now
In 3
Years
April
2020
Security management
45% 27% 34%
-6 -18 -11
Improving IT operations/
systems performance
42% 20% 38%
0 -22 -4
Cost control/
expense management
29% 20% 45%
-4 -9 +16
Negotiating with IT vendors
22% 13% 14%
+1 -9 -8
Managing IT crises
20% 9% 22%
-2 -11 +2
Transformational
State of the CIO
Sept. 2019
CV-19
Study
Now
In 3
Years
April
2020
Aligning IT initiatives with
business goals
44% 29% 23%
-3 -15 -21
Implementing new systems
and architecture
39% 28% 23%
0 -11 -16
Leading change efforts
34% 29% 26%
+2 -5 -8
Cultivating the IT/ business
partnership
30% 27% 18%
-3 -3 -12
Redesigning business
processes
24% 27% 37%
+1 +3 +13
Strategic
State of the CIO
Sept. 2019
CV-19
Study
Now
In 3
Years
April
2020
Driving business innovation
34% 41% 26%
-1 +7 -8
Identifying opportunities for
competitive differentiation
25% 29% 29%
+4 +4 +4
Developing and refining
business strategy
23% 29% 36%
0 +6 +13
Developing new go-to-market
strategies & technologies
22% 28% 22%
+3 +6 0
Studying market trends/customer
needs to identify commercial
opportunities
17% 22% 20%
+1 +5 +3
5. 5
DX and WFH are Top Priorities…
Q. Given the current state of the business what are the CEO’s top three priorities for you to help the business persevere through the current disruption?
Source: CIO COVID-19 Impact Survey, April 2020
8%
11%
14%
22%
23%
24%
25%
28%
29%
37%
37%
Lead merger integration or due diligence on a potential acquisition
Increase collaboration with LOB to help streamline technology purchases
Lead a product innovation effort
Collaborate with business departments on major customer initiative
Enable new plan for customer acquisition & retention
Identify new data-driven business opportunities
Help reach specific goal for corporate revenue growth
Reduce or rationalize IT spending
Upgrade IT and data security to boost corporate resiliency
Improve remote work experiences
Lead digital business/digital transformation initiatives
6. 6
STATE OF THE CIO
HEADS OF IT LOB
37% 37%
30% 18%
14% 9%
35% 25%
33% 21%
21% 21%
24% 23%
15% 7%
19% 13%
15% 5%
10% 12%
11% 8%
16% 16%
Increasing Operational Efficiency Remains #1
Q. How has the pandemic impacted the way your organization is prioritizing the following business initiatives? (Showing Increased Priority); Q: In 2020, which of the following business
initiatives will be most significant in driving IT investments at your organization?
Source: CIO COVID-19 Impact Survey, April 2020
12%
15%
19%
31%
38%
38%
40%
47%
48%
55%
55%
56%
62%
Meet compliance requirements (GDPR, etc.)
Monetize your company’s data
Improve talent acquisition/retention
Enhancing/Enabling new product development
Increase topline revenue for the business
Introduce new digital revenue streams
Improving profitability
Improve employee productivity
Increase cybersecurity protections
Improve customer experience
Optimize employee digital experience
Transform existing business processes
Increase operational efficiency 1
4
2
3
5
1
2
4
4
3
7. 7
Continue the Conversation
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